Fourier Analysis – Fourier Transform of Cos x^2

fourier analysisreal-analysis

Consider the real valued function $f(x):=\cos{(x^2)}$. How can we calculate its Fourier transform?

In other words, I have to calculate
$$
\hat{f}(\omega):=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{\mathbb R}\cos{(x^2)}e^{-i\omega x}dx.
$$
Any ideas? I'm sincerely stuck… I tried to calculate
$$
\int_{\mathbb R}e^{ix^2-ikx}dx
$$
in order to get the Fourier transforms of both $\cos x^2$ and $\sin x^2$ but I do not know how to begin. Mathematica says that the Fourier transform of $f$ has this simple expression:
$$
\frac{1}{2} \left[\cos\left(\frac{\omega^2}{4}\right)+\sin\left(\frac{\omega^2}{4}\right)\right]
$$
Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

You almost finished. You just need to complete the square in the exponential term, and use a Gaussian integral $$ \int_{-\infty}^{\infty}e^{ix^2-ikx}dx=e^{\frac{(-ik)^2}{4i}}\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{-i}}=e^{\frac{-ik^2}{4}}\sqrt{i\pi} $$